Lily's Habit
by MarcoLover16
Summary: James and Lily. He can't stand when she does that, and as hard as he tries, he can't ignore it. The sound sends chills throughout his entire body. Oh, but he could never tell her that!


Author's Note: Okay, very random, and a warning: It is quite silly :) I hope you enjoy.

James doesn't mind annoying habits, considering he has many of his own, so it really wouldn't be fair to judge anyone else's. He handles them with patience, tolerance, and mostly manages to ignore them.

James really doesn't mind the fact that when she studies, she has a tendency to click her teeth together noisily. In fact, he happens to find that particular trait rather endearing.

He also has no problem whatsoever with Lily's constant battles with him. One in particular had left him with a sore knee all day, and James believed it had started with an argument based on whether or not he was going to patrol with her that night. Evidently, his answer had been the wrong one.

James' fellow marauders also had their annoying habits, as does everyone. But James could ignore them, maybe not love them the way he did Lily's, but just stop paying attention.

But, for the love of Merlin, James could not stand Lily's nail biting. What made him so much angrier was that he didn't know why. There was something about the sound that made chills run through his entire body. Unpleasant chills.

Only he'd never _said _anything to his girlfriend, of course. Working so hard to get a girl to fall in love with him was difficult, and though he did find some enjoyment (which wasn't to ever be repeated) in making her angry, he would not stoop so low as to cause an argument over her nail biting. She couldn't help it, after all.

And _imagine _losing the love of one's life because she couldn't stop biting her nails? What an embarrassing thing that would be to tell people.

James could see it clearly. "I loved her so much. I worked seven long years to make her feel the same—well, really six—and she finally accepted me! We always annoyed the hell out of one another, naturally, but it was in a good way. We said we'd be together forever."

"What happened?" someone would ask sympathetically.

James would have to reply with. "I told her I couldn't stand the fact that she was a nail biter. One of _those _people."

There was always the other scenario, in which Lily would be put into Azkaban for killing her boyfriend, and her reason would be, "He offended me." Strangely, James could actually see that happening. He could also see the guards letting her go, due to the fact that she threatened them.

James decided to mention that situation to Sirius, who laughed out loud, and rolled his eyes at James' anxiety. "Please," he said, "like the Azkaban guards would let anyone leave."

James sighed. "You're missing the point."

"Am I?" asked Sirius, clearly amused.

"She's just…don't underestimate her powers. She can be scary."

"Oh, I'm sure," said Sirius with a roll of his eyes.

So, sitting across from Lily in the library on a sunny June afternoon, James decided to cautiously bring the topic up.

"Lily?" he said softly, closing his eyes, and wrapping his arms around himself to prevent a possible attack.

He carefully opened an eye, seeing Lily look up from her book. "Mhmm?" she said, innocently enough.

James had been afraid to disturb her, but since she was patiently awaiting his question, he went on. "I have to talk to you."

Lily nodded slowly, noticing her boyfriend's serious tone. "Well," she prompted, "what?"

James changed his mind, eyes widening. No, he was too afraid. Lily would kill him. Yes, she would be angry—or—was he just being ridiculous? Of course he was!

But as soon as that thought came to him, he became nervous again, as Lily was looking annoyed. "James, maybe I'll just finish this homework up, and you can go upstairs, and I'll meet you," she sighed.

"No!" he said. "I—I want to sit here with you," he said, smiling convincingly. Maybe it could wait. He didn't have to tell her at the very moment. Maybe he didn't at all! She hadn't done—he spoke—or thought—too soon.

Just as soon as he had smiled, thinking everything was all right, she did it. It was very quiet, so inconspicuous that any other may not have noticed it, but James did.

He was going to _have _to get over it. So, the girl bites her nails. Was it really that big of a deal?

Oh, he reminded himself after hearing it again, that it was. How on earth could she concentrate on her homework with that sound? James could barely even hear his own thoughts, but he was sure they had something to do with the 'talk' they needed to have.

"Okay," she said, finally, which meant her nails came away from her mouth, "I'm almost done."

"With the homework?" he asked.

Lily raised an eyebrow. "Of course, the homework. What else am I doing?" she asked, chuckling.

James smiled, even though he didn't want to; she had a tendency to make him do that. He didn't want to reply with, "I hoped you meant the nails." So, he didn't.

He continued to watch her do her homework, his already finished ages before. Lily didn't accept his help. Therefore, he was forced to watch her struggle with it for over two hours.

Lily really was beautiful. He loved moments like these (even with the disturbing sounds coming from her hand) where he could just watch her, spinning her quill around in the air as she thought. (Honestly, _how_ did she hold that quill while biting? James wondered if he'd already asked himself that question…)

James could not even concentrate on her beauty while she did that.

Really, the main thing he wanted to know was why she did it, and, of course, why it bothered him more than anything else in the world, but mainly, why she did it.

Was it fun? Did she enjoy it? It wasn't as though she were making them look better. Truthfully, she'd ripped them down to the point where one could barely tell they were nails anymore. So, why? Did she think James loved hearing the sound?

If so, she was definitely wrong.

"Done," she announced, slamming her books shut. She smiled, taking her hand away from her mouth. _Thank Merlin._

James could now smile easily as he took her hand in his own. "Good," he said, leaning down to kiss her.

"Thanks for staying with me. I suppose it was rather boring," she said, pushing her hair off of her shoulder before throwing her bag over it.

James shrugged. "No problem," he said, taking three books that didn't fit in her bag. In his opinion, she carried a bit too much.

They walked out of the library in silence, not a spine-chilling, nail-biting (literally) sound in the air.

"So, what did you have to talk about before?" Lily asked curiously, still clutching his hand tightly.

Could he do it? Could James possibly broach the, up until (possibly) now, forbidden topic?

"Nothing, Lily," he said, smiling down at her. _Coward._

Lily, however, now knew that it was something less-than trivial. Otherwise, he would have been fine saying it, so she pressed him. "What is it? Tell me. Right now."

She wasn't biting them, so it was fine. He needn't talk about it if it weren't happening, right?

"Is—is something wrong?" she asked.

Another thing about Lily was, she always jumped straight to the worst possible conclusion. Perhaps, by his silence, she'd already concluded that James was about to meet a painful and untimely death, and she was already trying to find a way to prevent it before James even got his words out. It was a trait he knew and adored about her, her worrying, (as much as he told her she needed to calm down) so _why _couldn't he feel that way about her—he gulped—biting?

There it was again. She stopped in the middle of their way to the Common Room to drop her bag for better access to bite her nails. It was definitely obsessive.

"James, you're scaring me, and I'll get angry…tell me, or I'll yell," she said.

James fought the urge to laugh. If only she knew that it wasn't something to worry her, only his annoyance at her incessant…well, he didn't need to say it to himself again. "Relax," he said, trying to take her hand, partly to calm her, and partly to make her stop.

"Are—are you," she started, unsure of what, exactly, she was worrying about. "Oh! Are you going to break up with me?"

James' mouth fell open. "Are you _serious?" _he asked. There she was, creating these ideas from jumping to the _worst _possible conclusions again. "Of course not!"

"Oh," she said, blinking. "Well, then," she resumed the nail-biting, "what is it?" she asked.

James decided he might as well let her know. After all, if she was nervous enough to think it had something to do with breaking-up, he had to give her the cold, hard, truth.

"Well, I—"

"Yeah?" she said quickly. What was she even biting anymore? Skin?

"Why do you do that?!" he asked, unable to handle it anymore.

James was suddenly glad that it was sunny out, and most students were taking advantage of the day by walking around the grounds. Before, he'd been annoyed he couldn't join in, but now he was happy his girlfriend hadn't wanted him to. That way, this silly conversation between them couldn't be overheard.

Lily, instead of looking angry as he thought she'd be, laughed slightly, and furrowed her brow in a confused sort of way. "Do what?" she asked, her hand rather close to her mouth, but she'd stopped biting.

"Chew…" he said awkwardly, "the nails."

Lily actually laughed again, and the sound filled James' ears, making relief course through his entire body. She wasn't angry.

"Oh, but don't _ever," _she said, breathing heavily as she tried to stop laughing, "freak me out again with the whole 'we need to talk' business."

"Okay," said James obediently, smiling as he watched her amusement. "I'm sorry."

Lily waved off his apology, smiling. "You really hate it?" she asked. James nodded. "Why do I do it?" James nodded quickly at that, really interested to know. He was sure it wasn't any of the suggestions he'd made to himself before (such as her enjoying it, or thinking he enjoyed it).

She smiled, as though she'd been waiting for him to ask, as though she watched his repulsed face every time she'd finished doing it, as if she knew it bothered him.

"It's not a choice," she said. "I do it when you make me nervous."

He made her nervous? He made Lily nervous? James wasn't sure if he could get that around his bewildered mind. He, of course, had his nervous habit that drove Lily up the wall. Running his hand through his hair. It killed her, and he knew it, and she knew he did it out of nerves.

But _he _made _her _nervous? The thought made him giddy, for some strange reason. When he took a moment to think about it, he did notice she really only did it when he made her worry…or if he happened to be incredibly forward with her. Hell, he'd even noticed it happening right before the first time he kissed her.

And she'd never been so nervous around anyone else, so he was actually rather flattered.

James was determined to get used to it. After all, she dealt with his irritating hair stunt, and besides, she only did it for him.

Somehow, that made the irritating, spine- chilling, suicide- inducing, sound of the nail- biting so much sweeter.

However, he would have to stop making her nervous so frequently, or she'd end up the woman without any nails…but this was Lily.

She'd find a way to make them ever lasting. Perhaps with a spell, or perhaps she'd just yell at them. Either way would work for Lily Evans.

Author's Note: Yes, it was very silly. Lol. Please review :)


End file.
